The Late Night Conversation
by matthewsbj
Summary: AU one shot from The Risky Business 02x18 . Kirsten learns about Trey's sneaking out before Ryan does and they have a little conversation.


_This takes place during the episode The Risky Business (02x18). This particular scene takes place the night before the morning Ryan caught Trey sneaking back into the house after stealing the egg. I realize that this scene most likely would never have happened, considering Sandy and Kirsten were having issues, not only as a couple, but as individuals and as parents, and I realize that Ryan be a bit out of character, but that's why we get to write fan-fiction._

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Kirsten made her way into the guest room where Ryan and Trey were sleeping. It was very late, and she hated waking Ryan, but she had a very important question to ask him. She side-stepped the empty air mattress on the ground; the very reason she was there and made her way closer to the bed. She had to smile to herself as she watched Ryan. He was turned on his side, facing her, snuggled under the covers, snoring softly. She hated even more having to wake him from a seemingly peaceful slumber.

She gingerly sat down on the edge of the bed, turned on the lamp by his bed, and gently shook his shoulder. "Ryan. Wake up, honey," she whispered.

He only moved slightly under her touch. She shook him a little more and raised her voice slightly, "Wake up, honey. I need to ask you a question."

He finally started to rouse himself from sleep. Scrubbing his face into his pillow, Kirsten could hear a muffled and sleepy, "Mom?" Then he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes with the palms of his hand. "What time is it? Is everything ok?"

She immediately chalked up his calling her Mom to the fact that he was just woken up, but she still had to fight a couple of tears from forming. She carried on anyway, though. "It's still really early, but I have to ask you a question. Do you know where your brother is?"

Ryan was still squinting at her half asleep, and then angled his head to see the clock on the bed-side table: 3:17 am. He then looked at Kirsten a little confused. "I would imagine he's in his room…in bed. He came up to bed a little bit before us; Trey and I were still playing the PlayStation. Why? Is Seth not in his room?"

This time, at Ryan's albeit sleepy admission that Seth was his brother, Kirsten did let a few tears fall down her cheeks as she ran a hand up and down Ryan's arm. She lovingly told him, "Oh, honey, I'm sure Seth would love knowing that he's your brother, but I'm talking about Trey."

Ryan sat up a little bit more in bed as Kirsten pointed to the empty air-mattress. "What? Trey's not here?" He fell back into the mattress onto his back.

Kirsten started to fill her son in on the last few minutes. "Just a little bit ago, Sandy and I heard the front door open and close, and then a car pull out of the drive-way. The cars are still here, and you and Seth are here; but Trey's not. It's obvious now that you don't know where he's going or what he's doing."

"Oh, this can't be good." He let out a heavy sigh, and covered his face with his left hand in frustration. "I'm just so tired," he whispered.

Kirsten squeezed his right hand and told him, "Oh, honey. I know it's still really early, but…"

Ryan cut her off, "No, that's not what I meant. I mean, for as long as I can remember, I've been cleaning up other people's messes. I did it with Dawn, and now I'm doing it all over again with Trey. I know it sounds selfish, but I was really kind of enjoying just being 17 and not having to worry about being the adult or the parent."

He knew on some level that he was talking too much, revealing too much, but on another level he was so tired and frustrated that he didn't care. It was so early in the morning, that he didn't have the time nor the energy to build up the walls he normally had in place, especially in dealing with the Cohen's. In fact, he was pretty sure that he had called Kirsten Mom, and had referred to Seth as his brother over Trey. Any other time, he would have been feeling self-conscious about the whole thing and trying to back pedal, but again he didn't much care.

She squeezed his hand again and wiped more tears from her eyes, and then rubbed a hand up and down his arm again. Seeing her wipe at her tears, Ryan furrowed his brows in concern and sat up a little more. "Are you ok? Why are you crying?"

Still holding his hand, she cupped his cheek with her free hand. "I'm fine, sweetie. I've just realized a few things during our little talk here. You've said some things that have made me very happy. Now, it's not selfish at all to expect someone to act their age or to take responsibility for themselves; that's one of the things that we've tried to teach you and Seth. And you're included in that, too. It's perfectly normal for you to want to be 17." She thought and considered a moment. "So, how about this: Why don't you let Sandy and I be the parents; let us handle this?"

He propped himself up with his elbow to look at her better and his eyes widened a bit dubiously. "Really?" He knew he was getting a little excited that someone else would be handling Trey for once, but again his walls were almost non-existent.

Her sweet grin turned into a full loving smile as she again swiped tears from her cheeks. "Of course, sweetie. Let your father and I come up with some options and the three of us will talk about them in the morning…or at least, at a more reasonable time in the morning. Once we all come up with a game plan, your father and I will talk with Trey."

The relief he felt that he would not have to deal with Trey must have been evident on his face, because Ryan saw Kirsten's smile deepen a little more, even with the little light from the lamp in the room. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, trying to get his brain to form the words to convey his gratitude, but all that came out was "Um…Thanks!" But despite his brains inability to form the words, apparently he was able to convey his thoughts through his eyes, and Kirsten read them like a book.

She let out a little chuckle. "You're welcome, sweetie. Now, why don't you go back to sleep and we'll talk more over breakfast, OK?"

"Ok." He laid his head back on the pillows gratefully and closed his eyes.

Kirsten leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly, then stood up and played with Ryan's covers. She pulled them back up to his shoulders and tucked them around him. "Good night, baby." She then turned the light out and made her ways towards the door.

She just before she stepped out, she could have sworn she heard Ryan whisper, "Good night, Mom."

She practically skipped down the stairs towards Sandy to tell him about her conversation with Ryan.


End file.
